Letter: Anderson Charter endorses candidates based on survey responses

Organizers of the Anderson County Charter movement have announced their endorsement of candidates who will support term limits, as well as announcing the formation of their Political Action Committee “Anderson Charter.”

To help Anderson County voters make informed decisions in the upcoming November 8 election, AndersonCharter.com sent the 19 Charter Commission candidates a questionnaire soliciting their views on a charter form of local government for Anderson County.

Only nine candidates returned the questionnaire, eight of which agreed or strongly agreed to the formation of a charter and to support term limits for the members of County Commission and the Office of Mayor. Concerning these issues, candidate Marjorie Lloyd responded “Don’t Know.” Verified candidates in support of term limits, as well as candidates supporting citizen speech and transparency in government are:

• District 1—Floyd Grisham
• District 2 —Jim Cooper
• District 3—Dusty Irwin
• District 4—Dennis Hashbarger
• District 5—Howard Farmer
• District 6—Hugh Ward
• District 7—David Stanley
• District 8—Kathy Moore

Anderson Charter would like to thank Marjorie Mott Lloyd for responding, though her questionnaire answers were non-committal to the issue of term limits and the formation of a county charter. Multiple candidates did not provide any response to the survey, nor did any of the non-respondents send a request for more time, or information. Sitting commissioners refusing to respond: Steve Emert, Tim Isbel, Theresa Scott, Steve Mead, Mark Alderson, Robert McKamey, and Jerry White. Also not responding were V.L. Stonecipher and Bob Smallridge.

“We had hoped that even though multiple candidates did not support the charter petition, that we might happily discover through the survey process that they might be open to term limits,” said Mark DeVol of Anderson Charter. “It appears however, that we can’t even give them a score of a ‘C’ or ‘D’ on term limits, as they simply refused to respond—leaving us no choice but to give them an ‘F’ or ‘zero.'”

Anderson Charter issued their endorsement after scoring candidate responses from a survey of questions intended to gauge candidate support for term limits for the members of County Commission and the Office of Mayor. Other survey questions asked for candidate’s opinions regarding topics such as: citizens right to non-disruptively address their elected officials at public meetings; a requirement to publish agenda items and supporting documents online prior to public meetings; and the separation of powers between three separate branches of government. Survey questions asked for responses ranging from “strongly agree, agree, don’t know, disagree, to strongly disagree.”

For more information on the charter, visit www.AndersonCharter.com.

Submitted by Mark DeVol

AndersonCharter.com

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